Cord-slack take-up and adjuster.



PATENTLD 00T. 13, 1903. F. W.A. MBYER.- l CORD SLAGK. TAKE-UP AND ADJUSTBR.4

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. 1902.

` Imm l\ \Illy| N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented october 1s, 190e'.

PATENT GEEICE.

FREDERICK w. A. MEYER, OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIs, AssIeNOR To CRESCENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE ILLINOIS.

CORD-SLACK TAKE-UP AND ADJUSTEILl SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,154, dated october 13, 1903.

Application filed July 2, 1902. Serial No. 114.068. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. A. MEYER, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Cord-Slack Take- Ups and Adjusters; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this xo specification. j

My invention relates to improvements in a cord-slack take-up and adjuster.

The object of my invention is to provide an efficient, simple, and durable device by means I5 of which the available length of the cord may be adjusted by winding the superfluous portion or slack upon the said receptacle or otherwise disposing of it and quickly and reliably securing the said cord to the terminals thereof.

zo A further object of my invention is to provide a Itake-up cord-adjuster of the class described that may be inseparably secured to and adapted to be moved along said cord to various positions with reference to the length of said cord.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a take-up adjuster adapted to be secured to an electric-lamp socket and which may be utilized as ahandle for the said socket 3o and lamp; and, finally, another object of my invention is to provide a fastening of a peculiar shape and character at one or both ends of the said receptacle for securing the same in position on the cord. Y

3 5 My invention is especially adapted as a means to adjust the length of a pendent electric conducting-cord of electric-light circuits, to the free terminals of which electric lamps are conductively attached.

With these and other objects in view, which will hereinafter appear and become obvious to those skilled in the art, my invention consists in the features, arrangements, and combinations of parts, as will now be described,

and more specifically set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of my take-up adjuster, partly in section, which is adapted to be secured to the socket 5o of an electric lamp. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, showing an electric -lamp cord wound on the device for the purpose of shortening the available length of the cord. Fig.

3 is an end view of the lower end of the said receptacle. Fig. et is a broken-away portion 5; showing the lower end of the said take-up in a position at right angles to that shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an elevation of a bobbinshaped receptacleprovided with a slot in one end and a perforation through theotlier end, shown in section. Fig. 6 is an elevation of a similar form of receptacle, showing a slot in each end. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the latter receptacle, showing several turns of cord wound around the body part thereof.

In all of the vie ws the saine numerals of reterence indicate similar parts.

The device shown in Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4 is adapted to be connected to a lamp-socket and serves as a handle for moving the lamp from 7o place to place. It also provides a means upon which the slack or superliuous length of the lamp-cord may be wound, so as to shorten the available length thereof, whereby the length of the cord may be conveniently and quickly adjusted to comply with the Varying conditions for which the lamp is used.

The body part or barrel of the device upon which the cord is wound, as illustrated, or that part which is contained between the en- 8o larged terminals or heads is indicated by l. rlhis is preferably, but not necessarily, made of cylindrical form. A central perforation 2 is made into the end 3. This perforation is intersected by an oblique perforation 4, terminating at the surface of the body part l. Concentric with the perforation 2 a brass screw-threaded thiinble 5 is inserted. This thilnble is adapted to screw into the end ofthe socket 6, into which an incandescent lamp is 9o to be inserted and'with which the cord-terminals 7 make electrical connections. That portion of the cord which is wound upon the barrel l of the'bobbin is indicated by the numeral 8. The upper portion of the cord 9 ex- 95 tends to a fixture, such as a rosette, placed in the electric-light circuit, preferably upon the ceiling from which the device as a whole is suspended. The enlarged ends or heads 10 and-ll are curved from the barrel l in the Ioo manner shown at the points l2 and 18, thus providing iillets, generally conical in form and preferably concave. The curved fillets are purposely made of a short radius, so that the cord when being wound upon the spool will slip down the curved portion, crowd away the prior convolutions from the end or head thereof, so as to leave the slot 14, Which extends through said fillet and the barrel part l, and into which the cord is te be inserted, free for the insertion of the said cord. The slot 14 is made into the body or barrel part 1 of the bobbin and is preferably made at au angle from the axis greater than the angle or spirality of the convolutions of the cord 8 when it is wound thereon. The slot 14, which is made into the body part of the bobbin, intersects a slot 15, which is practically longitudinally parallel with the center or axis of the said bobbin. The slot 15 joins the slot 14 with a central axially-concentric perforation 16, which extends down to intersect the angularly-disposed slot 14. The slot 15 is preferably narrower than the diameter of the perforation 16 and is so disposed that the edge thereof which constitutes the end Wall of the slot 14 lies in the plane of a chord which tangentially intersects the circumference of the perforation 16, while its opposite parallel edge intersects the circumference of the perforation 16 intermediate said point of taugency and the diametrically opposite point. Thus the slots 14 and 15 and the perforations 16 combine to form a lip 17, which partially surrounds the perforation 16.

The device shown in Figs. 6 and 7 is provided in each of its ends with slots 14 15 and a perforation 16 to produce a lip 17 for holding the cord in position.

In Fig. 5 one of the devices is provided with a lip produced by the slots, and the other end is perforated similar to that described with reference to and shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The device shown in Fig. 5 is in all essential respects similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with the exception that the threaded thimble 5 is not inserted in the perforation 2.

The device may be made of any material,

preferably such as wood, papier-mache, vulcanite, or the like, and it is not necessarily limited to the exact form of construction shown or material used in its construction.

The use and operation of my device is as follows: The electric cord 9 is first attached to a suit-able fixture in an electric-light circuit usually located on the ceiling, Where the cord Will hang. The cord is then passed through the perforations 4 and 2 of Figs. 1 or 5, and the terminal ends 7 are connected electrically to the conducting part of the electriclamp socket 6. In Fig. 1 the screw-threaded thimble 5 is screwed into the socket, When the device as a Whole becomes useful as a handle, by means of which the socket andthe connected lamp may be easily and conveniently moved from place to place. The cord is then inserted behind the lip 17 bypassing it into the oblique slot 14, the longitudinal slot 15, when it will be centered in the longitudinal perforation 16, and the device as a whole will hang` vertically from the ceiling, the cord being held in place by the lip 17, which intervenes between the slot 14 andthe perforation 16. When it is desirable to shorten the available length of the lamp-cord, it may be removed from the perforation 16 and the slots 15 and 14 and Wound upon the barrel 1, as shown at S in Fig. 2, and then the cord may once more be inserted in the slots 14 15 and the perforation 16 behind the lip 17, when the available length of the cord will thus be shortened and will be placed on the receptacle in the manner shown, convenient for future use, out of the way, and altogether it will present a rather ornamental appearance.

In the use of the device shown in Fig. 6 the cord may he first slipped into the slot 15, then into the slot 14 and the perforation 16, and Wound around the body or barrel part 1 of the bobbin or spool, and when a sufficient amount has been Wound thereon the cord is then slipped into the slot 14 at the opposite end of the spool, then into the slot 15, and drawn tight into the perforation 16, when the cord will leave the spool in a coaxial line, permitting the device and the lamp attached to the cord to hang perfectly plumb or in a vertical position, and the cord will be retained. in the slot by the lip 17 securely and positively.

To prevent the device from being su rreptitiously removed, it is sometimes preferable to pass the cord into the perforation 4, then into the axial perforation 2, provided at one end of the device. (Shown in Fig. 5.) The cord may then be connected to the lampsocket in the usual manner, and the device may be used in the manner heretofore described With reference to Fig. 6. By this means the device is inseparably associated with the cord and cannot be removed therefrom Without removing the socket or cutting` the cord.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A socket-handle for incandescent electric lamps, comprising a spool, on the reduced portion of Which the cord may be Wound, acircumferentially-closed cord-passage through one head of the spool, a perforated nipple secured to the spool and registering with the cord-passage, and a cord-passage in the other head of the spool open circumferentially throughout its length, and adapted to separably secure the cord.

2. In a cord-slack take-up, a body Whereon the cord may be wound having at one end a cord-passage therethrough including a longitudinal slot extending from the exterior to the axial center thereof, and a slot lying in a plane transversely to the axis extending from the exterior of the body tothe axis thereof and intersecting the longitudinal slot.

3. A cord-slack take-up comprising a body ICO IIO

part and a cord-fastening at each end thereof, one of said fastenings comprising a lip formed by a longitudinally-extended axial perforation, a transverse slot, and a longitudinal slot intersecting the perforation joining said transverse slot and the perforation. 4L. A cord-slack take-up comprising a body part and cord-fastenings at both ends thereof, one of said fastenings consisting of a lip formed by an axial perforation, a transverse slot communicating therewith at the lower end thereof, and a vertical slot coextensive with the perforation joining one end of said transvere slot and said perforation.

5. A cord-slack take-up comprising abody part and a cord-fastening at one end thereof consisting of a lip formed by an axial perforation, a longitudinal slot communicating therewith and with the exterior of the bodypart,and a transverse slot intersecting the longitudinal slot and the perforation, and inclined from its intersection with the longitudinal slot toward the longitudinal center of the body part.

6. In a device of the character described a barrel portion, means for attachment of the cord thereto at one end, and a head at the other end, said headed end being provided with cord receiving and securing means comprising an axial perforation in the head, a longitudinal slot connecting said perforation with the exterior of the head, and a transverse slot intersecting both the longitudinal slot and the axial perforation.

7. In a device of the character described a barrel portion, means for attachment of the cord thereto at one end, and a head at the other end, said headed end Ibeing provided with means for separably securing the cord thereto comprising a longitudinal perforation in the head, a longitudinal slot in the head communicating with said perforation and having one edge in the plane of a chord taken through the perforation and a transverse slot in the barrel on the said. side of said longitudinal slot as the aforesaid edge disposed to intersect both said slot and perforation to form a path for the cord, whereby said slots and the perforation combine to form a lip adapted to partially embrace the cord.

8. In a device of the character described a body portion comprising a barrel, means at one end thereof to secure the cord thereto, a head at the other end of said body portion provided with a cord-engaging lip, and a conical llet intervening between said head and the barrel.

9. In a device of the character described an integral structure comprising a barrel, means at one end of said barrel for the attachment of the cord thereto, a head at the other end of said barrel, a conical fillet intermediate the head and the barrel, said headed end being provided With a longitudinal slot extending to the axial center thereof and a transverse slot made through the fillet to intersect said longitudinal slot, said transverse slot likewise extending to the axial center of the head.

10. A socket-handle for electric incandescent lamps comprising a body whereon cord may be wound, a means at one end of said body for securing said body to a lamp-socket, and means at the other end of the body, comprising open slots therein, wherein the cord may be separably secured.

ll. Asocket-handleforincandescentlamps comprising a spool having at each end a head and intermediate the heads a reduced portion whereon cord may be wound, the head at one end being longitudinally extended and slotted, to afford means for separably attaching the lamp-cord thereto, and means secured to the opposite head for attaching the lampsocket thereto.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my ownI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK W. A. MEYER.

In presence of- GEO. T. MAY, Jr., MARY F. ALLEN. 

